How Boba Fett Could Rocket Into ‘Star Wars: Episode 9’ — And Beyond

Did anyone say ... the Mandalorian?

The moment Boba Fett gets a name in the original Star Wars trilogy is also the moment he dies (watch that iconic scene in the video above). No one actually says Boba Fett’s name in The Empire Strikes Back meaning when Han Solo mumbles “Boba Fett? Boba Fett? Where?” in Return of the Jedi, it’s a strange kind of introduction. In terms of live-action Star Wars movies, we haven’t seen Boba Fett since, but, could all that change in Episode IX?

George Lucas Has Always Been Wishy-Washy on Boba Fett’s Death

Look, we all know Lucas doesn’t have much to do with the day-to-day writing of new Star Wars films, but that doesn’t mean J.J. Abrams, Kathleen Kennedy, and various other Lucasfilm people won’t consult him on this one. And what would George Lucas say when asked about Boba Fett’s death? Did the Sarlacc Pit really kill him when it burped that epic burp in Return of the Jedi?

Well, the fact is, Lucas went on record saying he wasn’t sure about killing Boba Fett off for good, and that had he been aware of Fett’s popularity, he would have given the character a more “exciting death.” (In Lucas’s mind, he made up for this in Attack of the Clones by having Boba’s dad, Jango Fett, get beheaded by Samuel L. Jackson. Doesn’t get more exciting than that!)

Boba Fett abusing a space animal. Just one more reason people are afraid to watch The Star Wars Holiday Special

Lucas also considered adding a scene to the 1997 special edition of Return of the Jedi which would have shown Boba Fett climbing out of the Sarlacc Pit, alive. And, of course, in the old Legends canon, the resurrection of Boba Fett was top priority: his Sarlacc burp-death was retconned in the 1991 comic book series Dark Empire, and he remained “alive” in that canon pretty much up until 2014 when the new Disney canon erased all that stuff.

But, elements of the Legends canon have crept into the new sequel trilogy anyway: Han and Leia’s son turning to the Dark Side, a new version of the Rebellion, and Luke’s failed Jedi Academy were all plot points of the old comics and novels. So, why not the return of Boba Fett too?

It Would Be a Brilliant Way to Connect to the New TV Series, The Mandalorian

Okay, so we all know that The Mandalorian is a TV show set in between Return of the Jedi and The Force Awakens that follows the adventures (sorry, “travails”) of a gunslinger who dresses exactly like Boba Fett. In fairness, outside of the films, a lot of people dress like Boba Fett, because he wears Mandalorian armor, which is worn by people who come from the planet — wait for it — Mandalore.

The funny thing is, Boba Fett doesn’t come from the planet Mandalore, because he was a clone of his dad, Jango, who actually was (maybe?) born on the planet Concord Dawn, which is a place populated by rogue Mandalorians. So, calling yourself a Mandalorian, or wearing Mandalorian armor is pretty much like saying you’re punk rock. If you say it, people can decide to believe you, or not.

The Mandalorian

Anyway, why the hell would Lucasfilm have a TV show coming out the same year as Episode IX that has a Boba Fett-looking main character and not have that connect to the giant Star Wars movie? For historical context, the reason why nerds knew who Boba Fett was in 1980 and knew his name in 1983, was because, in addition to his very first appearance on the Holiday Special in freaking 1978, there was an action figure of Boba Fett out before the release of Empire. So, right now, from a certain point of view, history is repeating itself. Look: there’s slick gunslinger bounty hunter, he’s on TV, I wonder if he or anyone like him will show up in that new movie?

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The Mandalorian might make them happy, but that’s not really Boba Fett. So, if Boba Fett did turn up in Episode IX, doing god-knows-what, everyone would be elated. In fact, the best twist of all would be to present old, retired Boba Fett as a good guy, helping the Resistance. I mean, sure Fett worked for the Empire, but there’s no way he likes the First Order, right?

And assuming Fett does come back for Episode IX, there’s obviously two ways to do it: one way where you show his face and the other way, where you don’t. If you show his face, he’s got to be played by Temuera Morrison who played Jango (Boba’s dad clone) in Attack of the Clones. Oddly, at 57-years-old, Morrison is sort of the perfect age to play a retired Boba Fett.

But, if you didn’t want to do that, you could always hide Fett’s face and just have Jon Hamm do the voice. Canonically, right now, Jon Hamm is the incumbent Boba Fett. In 2017, Hamm did the voice of Fett in the audiobook version of the in-canon Star Wars book, A Certain Point of View. So, if Fett returns for Episode IX, and he keeps that famous helmet on, let’s at least get the voice of Jon Hamm saying something like, “what’s up. I’m Boba Fett. Ready to rock?”